Duplikate
by Cherry Cheva

    DUPLIKATE by Cherry Cheva
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  9/29/09
    Publisher:  HarperTeen
    Reviewed by:  Jaglvr
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Kate Larson is busy enough for at least two people.   She’s on the fast track to get into Yale, but she has to work
    twice as hard as her boyfriend, Paul, to guarantee her entry.  Paul is a legacy and the top of their high school class,
    so he’s a shoe-in.   But according to Kate’s research, Yale has only ever admitted two people from her high school
    in any one year.  There are other students with just as decent grades as Kate, and she HAS to get in.  She and Paul
    have been planning on the two of them going to Yale together.

    It’s the last few weeks before winter break and finals and projects are piling up.  And Kate can never say no, so
    she’s taken on the added responsibility of reviewing senior essays for one of her teachers.  She hasn’t even been
    able to make a dent in her own Yale application essay, and she has to review fellow students’!  

    So, when Kate wakes up one morning to find an identical replica of her, she almost screams.  But this one is
    wearing lip gloss, pink, and, could that possibly be, glitter?!  Kate figures she has to be dreaming, until she
    remembers the night before and her attempt to delete the SimuLife icon on her computer.  It kept asking for the
    disk, which of course Kate couldn’t find, and the end result was a real life Rina in her room.

    With Kate stressed out with all her end-of-term work, she decides to deal with Rina later.  She creates a comfy
    space for Rina in her walk-in closet, and sets her up with the complete works of Harry Potter.  It doesn’t take long
    for Rina to get bored, and convince Kate to let her help her with her busy schedule.  It starts simply enough: Rina
    attending a school board meeting in Kate’s place.  It blossoms into allowing Rina pose as Kate with Kate’s friends.  
    Finally, Rina stands in for some time with Paul.  But when Kate catches Rina making out with Paul, she knows it’s
    gone too far and has to come up with a final solution.

    I’m always hesitant to read the follow-up work of a young author when their first book was fantastic.  But as with
    SHE’S SO MONEY, DUPLIKATE was great.  Kate, like Maya, is expected to succeed.  But unlike Maya,
    Kate’s expectations are all self-imposed.  Though the story may be somewhat predictable in what will happen, the
    way Ms. Cheva gets there is well worth the ride.  

    Told with wit and spunk, Kate tries to stay honorable in the face of Rina’s persistence.  For anyone who always
    wished there were two of them, read DUPLLIKATE - and be careful what you wish for.